January 26, 2015

Beyond the Obama-Modi Bromance

The following article originally appeared in the Huffington Post India on January 26, 2015. An excerpt is included below, and the full text can be accessed here.

Official negotiations have a tendency to be bogged down
in bureaucracies, at one or both ends. And this is particularly true when it
comes to technical or legal discussions, when either one or both negotiating
teams lacks the authority to stray from their guidelines. Today, high-profile
bilateral summits serve a useful function in providing clear deadlines for
decisions to be reached, and forcing negotiators to compromise.

Such periodic brinkmanship has been a hallmark of
India-U.S. engagement since at least 1998, when India conducted a series of
nuclear tests. Bilateral India-US negotiations have been described in detail by
the likes of former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, Indian
scholar and journalist C. Raja Mohan, the Indian Prime Minister's former media
adviser Sanjaya Baru, and academic Rudra Chaudhuri in their books, and hint at
some of the limitations of bureaucratized working-level talks.

Similar negotiations were taking place over the past few
months, and Obama's visit enabled a series of compromises, detailed in the
joint statement and a joint press conference. Headlines will undoubtedly be
dominated by the two leaders announcing an agreement on civil nuclear
liability, an issue that had stymied U.S. civilian nuclear commerce with India
despite a U.S.-led initiative between 2005 and 2008 to grant India access to
nuclear imports and investments. The lack of compromise had lead to much frustration
with India in Washington, and limited cooperation in an area that has important
implications for India's energy needs and economic growth.

A further set of agreements relates to defense. In
addition to agreeing to a ten-year defence framework agreement, which follows a
similar agreement signed in 2005, the two sides agreed to operationalize four
small-scale joint defence development initiatives. These include jointly
developing and improving tactical Raven drones for battlefield scenarios, surveillance
and reconnaissance equipment for C-130J aircraft, protection for soldiers
against chemical and biological weapons, and mobile electric hybrid power
sources. They also agreed to start talks on the joint development of jet
engines and aircraft carriers, which are far more ambitious and long-term.

Finally, the two sides agreed to establish, continue, or
strengthen a series of discussions, financing initiatives, and technical
information sharing endeavours. These relate to economic growth, energy and the
environment, and technological fields such as health and space. While an
agreement comparable to that between the United States and China on climate
targets was not forthcoming, nor realistically expected, clean energy
initiatives find considerable space in the joint statement. Additionally, there
were a range of issues related to third countries and regions, the most
important of which was the Joint Strategic Vision for Asia-Pacific and Indian
Ocean Region.